My hairdresser complains about everything

@Starlight1984 no it's not rude to ask someone that you are paying to do a job stop talking.

You wouldn't tolerate it anywhere else!

Dentist?
Taxi driver?
Smear test?

There is nothing rude about stating that you don't wish to engage in a conversation and do not want the hairdresser to talk to you!

Some people are just like this, my SIL is a bit like this and while I listen to her and can see that at times she has a lot going on she also makes life hard for her self and her expectations are too high, she wants everything, a perfect Instagram family life as well as to be out making money, and her DH to be making money while always being on hand and to be out at spa days and out with friends all the time for big nights. Some people just expect too much.

No, it's shockingly rude for anyone to keep talking endlessly at another person, or to dump their personal stuff on them. The Op is the client and people offering a service need to understand that they have to offer what the client wants.

I agree with those saying ask for a silent session so you can relax. My last hairdresser was going through personal problems with her boyfriend and she would spend the entire cut telling me about it. It was unpleasant and tiring. Physiologists get paid to listen to other people moan about their problems for a reason, it's not fun, it's work. At the end of the cut I always felt like she should be paying me and not the other way around.

The irony is your responses don't sound much different to her dramas.

You have two choices
Live with it or go elsewhere. We are hardly talking about the end of a marriage where kids and a mortgage are involved

I hate hairdresser small talk so I always take a book and make a clear comment about how i looking forward to an hours peace and crack on with my book / magazine
make no small talk other than what’s absolutely necessary to get your hair cut

I’ve even closed my eyes like I am asleep or meditating to make it even clearer

At my last cut the manager told me he’s trying silence while cutting for his focus and clients peace and then asked for my feedback… got thumbs up from me

If I were a more skilled conversationalist, I'd probably try to quickly acknowledge what she's said, then immediately steer away to another topic, but I'm guessing that if you were the type who could do that you'd already have done it.

I can think of a few things that might work once, but ultimately you're not compatible, and there's no way to change that. I'd probably start looking for someone else.

To be fair, you're just unlucky!

It's usually the hairdresser who's the therapist!

On the one hand, I get you. I have a friend I meet regularly and she uses our time together to get everything off her chest. It can be quite wearing.

But on the other hand, I loathe having to make polite small talk and don't like revealing too much about myself to people I meet in a professional capacity, eg hairdressers, so I would welcome yours going on about her own issues just because it would mean she wasn't asking me about my own life or asking inane stuff like 'where are you going for your holidays?'

Unless you want to tell her, your only option is to move on.

The penny might drop if she carries on losing clients

Um, because it's rude?

I honestly don't know why anyone would not ask her to stop talking! It's a perfectly reasonable request.

Yes, OP! I had a mobile hairdresser that I took years to pluck up the courage to say I didn't want another appointment. She would moan from the minute she walked through the door and divulge all her problems to me. I felt like a NFP therapist - it was awful.

Why can't you ask her to stop talking?

Tell her that you have a lot on your mind and you need to zone out whilst she does your hair.

It's very unprofessional of her to go on and on like that but until you actually tell her then she will continue doing so!

Every time???

Mine was talking about her prolapse & her need for oestrogen gel on Wednesday. She’s a good hairdresser so I put up 🤷🏼‍♀️

This thread is making me so, so grateful for my hairdresser 😭It took forever to find one who I was happy with. He knows me so well now that he rarely even asks what I want as I have a tendency to change my mind and he knows what I like. Also I can literally walk in and say 'please don't speak to me, I'm hungover' and he doesn't take offence 😂

OP I do understand so I don't think YABU. People who say it's fussy, well yes, it is, but it's your hair. It costs a lot of money to get it cut and coloured and once it's done there's no changing it until next time (or unless you attempt to sort it yourself!). Also, I'm in the salon for 2-4 hours at a time depending on what I'm having done. It's a long time to be in someone's company! You have to like them - at least on a basic, small talk level - in my opinion.

However, I really don't think you can say 'please can we have some silence today?' as per a PP. It's extremely rude and sounds like you're talking to a small child. Plus I would be worried she would hack my hair to death out of spite.

I think your only options are either ear buds and pretend you're listening to something for work. Or find a new hairdresser.